Haley and Connor

How We Met

Yes…. we’re one of the few who are marrying our Tinder match (yay online dating!). With mutual Facebook likes of South Park, Notorious BIG, and Wedding Crashers… how could we not swipe right? After a few days of swapping sarcastic remarks via text, we decide to go on our first date – Connor tells me to pick the location. I suggest Piece, a brewery and pizzeria in Wicker Park, which was casual, decently loud and a couple train stops from home in case I needed to make a mad dash. It’s April Fools day (2014) so I reassure him a few times that I’m not a catfish and this isn’t an elaborate joke.

I show up a few minutes late (shocking) and am greeted by Connor, wearing a plaid shirt (shocking, again) and sporting a hipster hair cut. It’s important to note this because in his Tinder photo, his hair was buzzed and I wasn’t sure if I cared for this new look. Dinner was a success and I knew I scored points when I found out we were at a New Haven style pizza place and coincidentally, Connor’s from Connecticut. Next stop was Double Door for Trap Tuesday. I figured either Connor would have a great time or never call me again, so why not find out on the first night? For those of you unaware, this is a weekly event where various trap DJs play to a small crowd in a basement of a bar/venue with way too many fog machines and deals on 40s in Wicker Park. Enough said.

Dan and Kristina joined us on that Tuesday and we danced all night – who knew 2 1/2 years later both couples would still be happily together.

How He Asked

Summer, my Matron of Honor, and her fiance Matt, flew to Colorado from Nashville to celebrate her birthday and first time in the state. I was so focused on making sure our guests had the best Colorado weekend possible – with a stop at New Belgium, show at Red Rocks, skydiving in Longmont and stops in Louisville, Boulder, Fort Collins, and Denver – that I was unaware Connor was planning something of his own. I had been begging friends and family since my first skydiving experience to join me on my second jump. Connor was obviously down and to my surprise, so was Summer, Matt and Sean. Our appointment was scheduled for Saturday at 10am and while none of us seemed nervous, the two hour wait until we boarded the plane started to make us anxious.

Three of us had boarded the plane when the pilot announced we needed to deplane due to high winds. Connor seemed the most upset but we were all pretty bummed when we eventually had to reschedule for the next day. For the next 24 hours, we all obsessively checked the wind forecast to make sure we would actually be jumping this time. Fortunately, Sunday was a more beautiful, clearer and calmer day – perfect conditions for skydiving. We made it up to 17,500 feet, Connor jumped first, and I went fourth out of the group. This time was much more satisfying than the first because I kept my eyes open the whole time, pulled the parachute after the free fall and guided us down to the ground (South Park reference).

Once my instructor unbuckled himself from me, I re-established my equilibrium and turned around to see Connor down on his knee, asking “Will you marry me?”. Falling from the sky, surrounded by my best friends and the most beautiful mountains, with my best friend and now fiance, down on one knee…. everything was perfect and now WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!